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•	2020 Album

•	1999 Album

One thing becomes increasingly clear the longer you listen to Bernstein's music for Wild Wild West: He must have seen it for the flop that it would be, for how else do you explain such a ridiculous score? While some film music collectors maintain that the work contains enough genre bravado to entertain it as a decent standalone Western score, its demeanor is far closer to the parody realm than they may want to admit. In some ways, that comical attitude makes Wild Wild West an insufferable listening experience. At the same time, though, the competency with which Bernstein executes that humor is really admirable and even enjoyable in other parts. The overall score, as a result, is a mixed bag of old memories, awkward transitions, and elements you wish had been saved for a better picture. With only a month in which to deliver a large-scale score for Wild Wild West, Bernstein, who was 77 years old at the time, once again employed his son, Peter, for assistance on some of the cues, especially as last-minute edits to the film demanded alterations to the final third of the score. The tone of the score is largely orchestral but also features 1970's pop elements meant to represent the coolness of Smith's character. The juxtaposition reinforces the parody notions, as these two genres of music were never destined for serious interpolation. Some instrumental similarities to Ghostbusters are owed to sporadic use of the usual ondes martenot. Bernstein's themes and motifs are an amalgamation of previous ideas from his career and those of others. His main theme is along the lines of two classics: The Magnificent Seven and, more so, Alfred Newman's How the West Was Won. A "go get 'em" action motif is lifted directly from his own Stripes score, with several comedy sketches pulling inspiration from Airplane! A quick motif for Branagh's Loveless villain is introduced in the opening moments and receives frequent references in the latter half of the work, though the real personality of Branagh's overblown accent is provided in the "Loveless, Hallelujah" choral outburst (along with a quote from Britain's "God Save the Queen") in "Loveless' Plan." An exotic dance piece irritatingly concludes that cue as necessary for Smith's drag impression.

Other pieces of comedy come into play in Wild Wild West when Bernstein overtly addresses Smith's awkward race and attitude with gospel funk; the electric bass and organ in "Main Title," "West Fights," and "The Cornfield" are unfortunately nothing better than an annoyance. We know why it's here, but that doesn't mean it actually works on any level. Two of the best action cues are, incidentally, those written by Peter Bernstein under the templates established by his father. The enhanced bassline in "Goodbye Loveless," complete with Goldsmith-style cracking of whips, is a highlight. One of the more curious aspects of the Bernsteins' score for this film is the relative lack of incorporation of Richard Markowitz's original theme for the TV series. It is indeed used twice in the film, but does not appear anywhere on the short 1999 Varèse Sarabande album. In 2020, the label doubled the length of the score's film presentation for a limited CD Club product, appending several alternate takes and source material to bring the listening experience up to 76 minutes. The added material is mostly redundant and simply reinforces the completely schizophrenic nature of this genre-defying music. On the other hand, the longer presentation does expose greater adaptive flexibility for the main theme throughout the score, and it includes one notable application of the Markowitz television theme. Enthusiasts of the contemporary funk element will rejoice in the newly revealed cues. Perhaps more importantly, the fuller score reveals that the Loveless material becomes truly pervasive by the middle of the work, the theme's five-note phrases appearing in some seemingly constant guise. The expanded album is marginally interesting from an intellectual standpoint, especially as coda to the Western and comedy genres for the composer in his long career, but it's understandably more challenging than the prior, 30-minute album to tolerate. The music's sound quality is not noticeably improved on the 2020 album. One thankful omission from both score albums is Smith's atrocious rap song that best defined the movie for most viewers. Overall, Wild Wild West is a work that can't decide if it wants to emphasize serious action or comedic parody. As a result, you hear Bernstein and his son struggle to adapt the techniques of previous famous scores into a film that they must have known would fail miserably.   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

• Music as Written for the Film:  ***
• Music as Heard on All Albums:  **
• Overall:  **

Bias Check:

For Elmer Bernstein reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.25 (in 18 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.18 (in 11,094 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.